Criss Cross
by BrennaT
Summary: christina johnson comes to hogwarts in her 5th year..will she find more than she expected? i suck at summaries, sorry.... loveangstthe whole lot lol, R
1. Last Moments of Normal

Christina woke up Sunday morning with a feeling of extreme excitement mingled with apprehension rushing through her. Today would be the first day of her new school and she could hardly wait. She, like everyone else in her family, was a witch, but had been living in America up until just a few weeks ago. Her father, Mr. Johnson, was offered a new job with a European Ministry of Magic, and so Christina would be attending a new school there instead. She missed her friends, of course, but she hadn't made any particularily close friends, and she hoped that by attending a new school for her 4th year of school, she could start over.

The smell of bacon and eggs wafted up the stairs toward her, she inhaled deeply. The prospect of eating bacon excited her; her mother hated bacon, and so only made bacon for her family on special occassions or when she was in a particularily good mood. Christina arrived at the bottom of the stairs to see that her two little sisters, Becky and Renee, were already at the table. They were twins, but not identical as Hollywood would prefer. At eight years old, Becky sported a head of pretty blond hair while Renee's hair was fiery red. No one in the family was quite sure where the red gene came from, as Christina's mother and father were blonde, not to mention Christina herself.

"It smells delicious, Mom," said Christina, sliding into a chair between her two sisters. Becky was pouring sugar onto her toast and Renee was applying liberal amounts of butter to her piece. Their mother came over and gently took the knife away from her, assuring a whining Renee that her bread had quite enough butter to get on with.

Christina licked her lips as a steaming plate of fried eggs and bacon was set before her. She ate the eggs quickly, but her bacon she savored, unsure when she would get the chance to eat it again. By this time, the dishes from her mother's meal were washing themselves in the sink, making soft chinking noises as they bumped together.

"When does Chrissie's train leave?" Renee said suddenly, looking up at her father, who had just entered the room.

"At 12:00 sharp," said Mr. Johnson, kissing Mrs. Johnson on the cheek, and taking his seat at the table. "So we should leave around 11:00; I'm not sure what the traffic will be like. He glared at Christina reproachfully, as though it was her fault she was not old enough to apparate to the station and so they were reduced to using Muggle transportation.

"Chrissie, honey," said Mrs. Johnson, ruffling Christina's soft blonde hair fondly, "it's ten 'o clock now--I let you sleep in because its a big day--we have about an hour before we have to leave, why don't you run upstairs and make sure you're all set for the school year?"

"Ok," replied Christina, getting up. She walked up the stairs and entered her room, thinking about what she was going to wear. It would, after all, be the first time all summer that she came in contact with anyone her age, and she wanted to make a good first impression with the people she would be spending her remaining four years of school with. Sighing, she pulled open the top drawer of her dresser and surveyed the contents. She wanted to look good. Turn heads. Have the boys wonder, "who is that? She's hot!" Christina smiled to herself, daydreaming.

Finally, she selected a tight turquoise shirt and jean shorts--the weather was quite hot, summer just having ended, and she expected she would be able to change into her school robes on the train. She wandered over to the trunk she would be bringing with her, examining the contents. To compensate for the move, Christina's parents had bought her a new wand, and given her some money for her to spend on whatever she wanted. The wand was shiny, as new as it was, and Christina picked it up and twirled it between her fingers for a moment. It was ten inches long, made from the wood of a Magnolia tree, containing unicorn hair. She gave it a wave, and bright blue sparks flew out from the end. She smiled, satisfied, and put it back in the trunk, wrapping it carefully in newspaper to keep it safe on the journey.

Her robes were underneath her wand. Christina had been very pleased with the list of required items that Hogwarts had sent her family--she had always fancied swooping about in a cloak of some kind, and now that it was required, her parents were forced to buy it for her. They went ahead and bought her two, a thicker one with grey fur lining for cold days and a thin, silk-like one for warmer days. Upon further begging, Christina had convinced her father to buy her some gloves to match her winter cloak; they were black and lined with the same grey fur. She rather liked thinking she looked like a lady from the eighteen hundreds when she had them on, a thought which both amused and pleased her. Her required Hogwarts robes, of course, were simply plain black, and fit her with a little room to spare because, Mrs. Johnson had said, "You won't stay fourteen forever, and money doesn't grow on trees." Jumbled in with her robes were a great many Muggle clothes that Christina just couldn't resist bringing along, just in case.

At the very bottom of her trunk lay the many books that had been on the list, along with a few books that Christina had coaxed her mother into buying her. Some of these included_ Boiling Beauty: 100 Potions to Solve Appearance Problems _and _Bored? You're Not a Wizard for Nothing: Charms to Entertain and Amuse_. Christina smiled slightly, imagining the sort of things she would learn at her new school. Hogwarts was supposed to be the best wizarding school in all of Great Britain, after all, and European schools, as a rule, were rumored to be better than American schools by a long shot.

Christina climbed onto her bed, savoring her fluffy blankets for the last time. Maybe, in this new school, the beds would be lumpy and cold. She chuckled to herself, doubting that such a prestigious school as Hogwarts would treat its pupils poorly in any way. Christina sat up, folding her legs under her, criss cross, as was her favorite way of sitting. She could hear Becky singing in her head, "criss cross, applesauce". Christina smiled. She would miss her family.

"Christina?" there came a knock at her bedroom door. It was her mother. "It's time to go, Chrissie." she waved her wand and Christina's trunk closed and levitated to knee height.

"Oh--alright--" said Christina, realizing that she wasn't wearing any makeup and she had yet to brush her hair.

"We'll meet you in the car," said her mother understandingly, and exited the room, directing the trunk in front of her.

Christina rushed over to the mirror in her room and put on some eyeliner on the bottom, careful not to smear it on this special day. Then she squeezed some pale pink gloss out of a tube onto her lips and rubbed her lips together, examining the affect in her mirror. Shrugging, she quickly pushed her makeup into a little white bag (she constantly denied it was a purse) she had gotten in America and shuffled out of her room. By the front door, Christina hurriedly stepped into her sneakers before heading out to the car and the future that lay ahead of her.


	2. Polite Conversation

The sun blazed down on Christina and her family as they wound their way through the crowds to platform nine and three quarters. Becky and Renee were singing and holding hands, twirling around Christina, who was becoming more and more nervous by the second. A bead of sweat dripped down the back of Christina's neck. Horrified, she ran her hand through her hair. It would be horrible to be all sweaty and disgusting when she met her peers for the first time. The whole car ride to the station, Christina had compulsively checked her appearance in the car mirror. Mr. Johnson had finally become so irritated at the velcro noise of the mirror being opened and closed that he forbid Christina from opening it anymore, the car swirving dangerously in the process of his reprimand.

Christina nervously played with the latch of her bag, snapping it and unsnapping it as she walked. Finally, they arrived at platform nine, and looking to the left, saw that platform ten stood there without any platforms in between. Christina opened her mouth to point this out, but her father spoke before she got the chance.

"Of course, there will be muggle protection on it. Well, lets just wait and see what other wizarding folk do to get in." The only downside of this suggestion, however, was that they had been quite early to arrive at the station, having left an hour before the train was supposed to leave, and so no witches or wizards were entering the platform yet.

They stood in the sun for a few minutes before Christina sighed, and, accepting that they would be waiting around for a while, dragged her trunk over to a spot of shade and sat down on it. The last thing she needed was for her to be in the sun long enough to sweat off her makeup, or perhaps become so damp with perspiration that she was shiny. Christina shuddered at the thought.

After about twenty minutes had passed, a boy in his late teens came into view, pushing a trunk along on a cart. An older woman accompanied him, looking quite irritated at the weather, and gazing disapprovingly around at the passing Muggles. Christina spotted the trunk first, and then the woman, put two and two together, and came to the conclusion that the boy was a wizard and off to Hogwarts, like herself. She pointed this out to her mother and father and they watched the pair casually approach the brick wall between platforms nine and ten.

The boy didn't show any sign of slowing down as he neared the wall, in fact, he didnt even blink as it drew nearer and nearer. Christina, expected to hear a _clang!_ as his cart hit the wall, was surprised to see him walk right through it. Then she laughed.

"Of course! We could've walked right through it, all this time!" She shook her head at her father, who was looking sheepish, and stood up.

"We'll see you for Christmas," said Christina's mother, drawing Christina into a tight hug. "Dad will see you off the train--the girls and I will wait for him here--we wouldn't want to clog up the platform." She released Christina as Becky and Renee skipped over to bid their farewells as well.

"'Bye, Chrissie!" said Renee, hugging her warmly. "Send us letters!" She kissed Christina on the cheek.

"Yeah, letters!" added Becky, looking reluctant to hug her big sister. She really wasn't the touchy-feely type.

"Aw, come on Becks," coaxed Christina, "I'm going away for the whole _year_! Give me a good bye hug!" Becky grinned sheepishly and hugged her. Christina ruffled her two sister's hair.

"Have fun, be careful, make good choices!" her mother was saying. "Now, off you go! You want to get a nice seat on the train!" She gave Christina a last hug and ushered her off to her father, who lifted the trunk and preceeded through the brick wall.

Christina gave her family one last wave and followed him.

The platform had several families on it, bidding their children safe journeys and waving to those that were already on the train. Hot steam rose from the train and drifted around lazily as sunlight glinted off it's deep red finish.

"Well, this is where I leave you kiddo," said Mr. Johnson, ruffling his daughters hair, much to Christina's horror.

"_Dad!_ _You'll mess up my hair!_"she hissed, hurriedly trying to fix it before anyone saw her. Her father chuckled.

"Have a good year, Chrissie! Write if you need anything...see you at Christmas!" He gave her a hug and departed back through the wall, leaving Christina standing on the platform, holding one end of her trunk in one hand and her bag in the other.

The train wasn't too crowded. Christina dragged her trunk down the train corridor for a while before finally entering an empty compartment. She slid her trunk under her seat and sat down, looking out the window onto the platform below. A few minutes passed, and the platform became quite crowded with families and students and owls and trunks being pushed every which way. Christina watched them, thinking...these were the people she would be spending the remaining of her child hood with...she wondered for a moment if she would make any friends, before pushing the thought out of her mind. Of _course_ she would make friends. Still, she was nervous.

Ten minutes later, at 12:00, the train gave a loud _toot! _and steam billowed from the steampipe. Christina could feel the engine working to get the train moving, and stared out the window as the platform began to slowly inch away from her. Soon it was gone.

Christina could hear people shuffling around in the corridor, and before she knew it, the compartment door was sliding open. Her breath caught in her throat--she was about to meet someone new--in the doorway stood a pretty brown-haired girl with large brown eyes; a blonde girl stood a ways behind her.

"Oh," said the brunette, her mouth opening in slight surprise, "We're sorry. We didn't realize this compartment was already in use..."

"Oh," it was Christina's turn to say, "its no problem--you can sit here, if you want." She added the if you want part quickly, fearing that she had been too aggressive. However, the brunette smiled and said "thanks". She entered the compartment and flopped down in the seat opposite Christina, motioning for the other girl to follow. She did so, glancing at Christina, quickly looking her up and down.

"I'm Rachel," the brunette said to Christina. Christina wondered wildly whether she ought to shake hands with the girl, before deciding that that was too formal.

"I'm Christina," she replied, smiling nervously. A few seconds of silence passed in which Christina glanced at the other blonde girl, wondering whether or not she was going to introduce herself.

"My name's Sarah," the girl finally said. Christina smiled at her. She didn't know why she kept smiling--it was as if her body automatically smiled at being introduced to new people. She guessed her nervousness had overcome her usual attitude and so she was being instinctually polite.

"What year are you in?" asked Rachel. Christina quickly looked back over at her.

"Um--I'll be in fourth year."

"Really? I haven't seen you before, I don't think," said Rachel. "What house are you in?"

"Oh...I don't know...I just moved from America. I'm new here."

Rachel's eyes lit up. "Serious?"

"Yeah," Christina said, happy that she was actually beginning to have a conversation with someone.

"What house do you think you'll be in?" said Sarah suddenly. Christina was surprised to hear her input into the conversation.

"Er...what are houses?" Christina felt very stupid asking, but as when Rachel had first asked the question she had imagined several actual residential houses in her head, she figured she would have to find out sooner or later.

The girl called Sarah looked absolutely shocked. Christina thought it was rather rude. Rachel seemed to think so, too, because she threw her friend a disaproving look and smiled at Christina.

"Houses are like...I don't know...families, I suppose. There are four of them--each house has its own common room and dormitories and stuff--it's the people you'll live in close quarters with. The houses are Ravenclaw, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor."

"What one are you in?"

"Me? I'm in Gryffindor," said Rachel happily, leaning back in her seat. "The best house, you know. _Any_ways," Rachel continued, "Gryffindor is for brave, beautiful, wonderful people"--she grinned superiorly--"Ravenclaw is for clever people, Hufflepuff is for particularily friendly people, and Slytherin is for bitches. It's all a very organized group. Gryffindors, we're the good guys, so obviously we hate the Slytherins...they're mostly evil. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff--well--no one really cares about them, so--"

"Excuse me," said Sarah, sniffing, "I'm in Ravenclaw, and people most certainly care about us. We're the most intelligent house, Rachel."

Rachel opened her mouth to reply right as the compartment door slid open again. In the doorway stood a girl with chin-length brown hair. "Oh--hi, Amanda," she said, and Christina could have sworn she detected disapointment in her voice.

"Hi," Amanda said. "Sarah, I've been looking for you--me and Beth got a compartment farther down the hall." Sarah stood up.

"Nice meeting you, Christina. See you, Rachel," and left with the girl called Amanda. A few moments of silence followed their departure.

"Amanda's in Gryffindor, too," Rachel said finally. "Her and Beth and Sarah all grew up in the same neighborhood, so they were all best friends before they started school. Beth and Sarah both got sorted into Ravenclaw but Amanda got put in Gryffindor, so basically, she's kind of a bitch. Mad about being seperated from her friends--I expect she feels rather left out. But she's made it through three years so far. Don't know why she was put in Gryffindor, myself--but the Sorting Hat is always right, so I won't worry about that."

"...The Sorting Hat?" Christina questioned.

"Oh--well--it's this hat that you put on that tells you what house you should be in. You'll probably get sorted tonight with the first years."

"Oh."

More silence.

"If Sarah's in a different house, how did you make friends with her?" Christina asked, trying to keep the conversation going.

Rachel shrugged. "More like aqquaintences. I had two weeks of detentions with her right before the end of last year, so we got to know each other. She was just the first person I saw on the train so we went to sit down together.

Christina wanted to ask what Rachel had done that had got her in detention for two weeks, but she decided against it. Instead, she asked, "Who's your best friend?"

Rachel sighed, frowning. "Well, her name was Kaitlyn, but her mom went kind of psycho, hates Dumbledore, see...she pulled Kaityln out of school and so she's homeschooled now."

"Oh."

They passed the rest of the train ride making polite conversation, and changed into their robes as the skies outside the train began to darken. As the train pulled into the station, Christina was overwhelmed with a wave of nervousness again.


	3. Sorting, Feasts, and Cool Sheets

Christina stepped off the train into a sea of students. The air was hot and muggy, despite the fact that darkness had fallen, and Christina found it rather hard to breathe. Mosquitos buzzed around the lanterns and a warm breeze was lazily winding in and out of the students. Kids were yelling, laughing, calling to each other; Christina looked sideways at Rachel to see where she should go.

"This way," said Rachel, keen to help Christina out, and began fighting through her peers. Christina followed close behind, trying hard not to step on anyone or bump into anybody. She was thankful that her school robes were so thin--at first, she had argued with her mother about the selection, because she thought that thin robes would make her look very poor, but now she found herself silently thanking her mother for being so stubborn; the ventilation that the thin material provided made Christina much cooler than she would've been had she been wearing a thick cloak. At least now she wasn't sweating.

They emerged from the mass of students onto a road. Christina looked on in awe--the road was covered with little carriages with nothing pulling them, lined up neatly--she followed the road with her eyes and in the distance saw a great shape in the dark--a castle with many towers and turrets, its windows gleaming welcomingly in the night.

"Christina!" called Rachel, "come on!" She was nearing a carriage, waiting for Christina to join her. Excited at this friendly outreach, Christina hurried to join the pretty brunette. She clambored into the carriage to find three other people sitting there--Rachel and two boys that Christina had, of course, never seen before. She sat down next to Rachel and looked down, her face reddening slightly. The boys were rather cute and this was her first encounter with any boy all summer.

Rachel, however, did not seem taken aback at all by the boys presence. In fact, as the carriage jolted into motion, she struck up conversation.

"Wow, it's really hot," she said, fanning herself with her hand and gesturing out the window. The boys nodded.

"Yeah," said one of them, "I can't remember the last time September was this hot." Christina looked at him. He had rather messy black hair and pretty blue eyes.

"Well, it was like this all summer," said the other boy. He had brown hair, green eyes. "I'm Simon," he added, reaching out his hand for Rachel to shake.

"I'm Rachel," she said, smiling and taking it.

The other boy glanced at Christina as though unsure whether or not he should follow suit. Finally, he did. "I'm--"

"His name's pretty retarded," Simon interrupted, laughing. The black-haired boy punched him in the arm. "Shut up!"

Rachel laughed. "What's your name?" she said to the boy.

"It's Jett." The boy shook his head while saying so, and began laughing himself. He reached up and ruffled his hair with one hand, yawning. Christina thought he looked quite attractive while doing so, and held her breath for a moment, watching him.

"I'm Christina," she said suddenly, taking the oppurtunity to introduce herself. The boys and Rachel stopped laughing and looked at her.

"I've never seen you around," said Jett, furrowing his brow. "Are you in our year?"

"...That depends on what year you're in, doesn't it?" Christina was surprised at her own daring. Jett chuckled.

"I suppose it does. I'm in fifth."

"Same here!" piped in Simon.

"Oh. I'm in fourth. We both are." Christina gestured towards Rachel.

"What house are you in?" Simon asked her.

"Uhh...well, I'm new so...I don't know yet."

"Oh," said Simon. "Well, you could get into Slytherin, that would be nice, we could use some cute girls." There was a pause. Then...

"You're a Slytherin?" Rachel inquired.

"Yeah. But I'm not psycho evil or anything. Don't worry," Simon said, chuckling. Rachel didn't look entirely convinced.

"Well," she said, "what did the hat say when it was sorting you?"

"It said I had lots of cunning. I was clever. I was brave. But I knew when to listen to my brain instead of my heart--"

"--and save yourself instead of others, huh?" Rachel cut in. The carriage, swaying, was filled with an awkward silence for a few moments.

"Well, I guess."

Rachel laughed nervously. "Well, we don't seem to be in a life threatening situation, so I'll trust you for now." She turned to Jett. "Are _you_ in Slytherin, too?" she demanded of him.

Jett nodded. "Yeah. The hat said I had lots of ambition."

The carriage began to slow and soon came to a complete stop. Jett opened the door. "Ladies first," he said. "That means you, Si," he added, giving Simon a little push towards the door. Simon responded by hitting him on the top of the head and jumping out of the carriage, dodging Jett's swing of retaliation.

"Boys are so wierd sometimes," Rachel whispered to Christina. Christina laughed nervously. She had already met four new people in this school...she looked up and saw the castle towering above them and her breath caught in her throat. It was even more magnificent than she had imagined.

They climbed the stone steps to the great oak doors of the castle and entered a large, brightly lit hallway. A large marble staircase was in the center of it, and to one side another set of great oak doors were open; a great rumble of laughter and voices was coming from it. Rachel led Christina through the large doors. "This is the great hall," she said. "I'm gonna go sit down at the Gryffindor table--that one, right there"--she pointed--"but you should wait here to see what house you're gonna be in. Good luck. Try to get in Gryffindor!" and before Christina could ask how she should go about that, Rachel had rushed off to the Gryffindor table.

Christina felt a tap on her shoulder. Before she could turn around, Simon and Jett came sidling past her. "Get in Slytherin!" they whispered as they passed. Christina grinned nervously at them--they returned the smile. This left Christina feeling quite elated inside--she already had made three friends. Well, one friend, and two...almost friends. Two good looking almost-friends.

"Ms. Johnson?" came a voice from behind her. Christina turned and saw a stern looking witch in deep green robes surveying her.

"Y-yes?"

"You are new, am I correct? From America?"

"Yes."

"Right this way, then. You will be sorted before the first years so that you can take your seat at your respective house."

Christina nodded in response. Her worry was rising within her once again. She followed the woman over to a three-legged stool in the middle of the Great Hall. The hall became quiet; all heads were turned towards Christina. Fear flooded her--even embarrassment--everyone was looking at her--what if something was horribly wrong, some piece of hair was sticking straight up, she had something between her teeth--she pushed these thoughts out of her mind and sat unsteadily down onto the stool. The woman placed a tattered old hat on Christina. Almost immediately, a little voice flicked on in her head.

_Ahhh. I've never seen one of your family before. Christina Johnson...I've seen plenty of Johnsons, of course, but none related to you I'm sorry to say. Nevertheless, lets see what I can do. _Christina was shocked. She tried to wipe the startled expression off of her face and listen to the voice.

_You're quite clever. Lots of ambition. _Slytherin, Christina thought abruptly. _Slytherin? Is that what you want? _No, Christina thought--I don't know, I don't know anything about the houses! The voice chuckled. _Calm down. Your so nervous its hard for _me_ to concentrate. You're not very brave. But you have a good heart. You'd do well in any of the houses. Which one do you _want_ to be in?_

I don't know, thought Christina in horror. She glanced around the hall and saw Jett and Simon at the Slytherin table. Her eyes flicked over to the Gryffindor table, where Rachel sat, looking eagerly on. Christina saw Rachel give her the thumbs up and grin.

I want to be in Gryffindor, she thought desperately. _Gryffindor? But, you know, then you will be limited as to the relationships you can have with those...certain...people in other houses. _I know, thought Christina. Just put me where you think I should be! _Alright, alright..._and then the hat spoke aloud, so loudly that Christina felt herself jump and then blushed. "GRYFFINDOR!" the hat yelled, and the gryffindor table cheered while the other houses clapped politely.

Christina got up shakily and walked towards the Gryffindor table, which was cheering as it welcomed her into their house. Rachel waved for her to join her, and Christina gratefully slid into an empty spot on the bench next to her new friend.

"I _knew _you'd be in Gryffindor," said Rachel, grinning. Just then, the hall grew silent once more as a man stood at the front of the room. "That's Dumbledore," whispered Rachel, before going silent herself.

"Welcome," said Dumbledore, looking out over the students with a small smile on his lips, "to another year at Hogwarts. Now, I know we are all eagerly awaiting our supper"--there were murmors of assent throughout the student body--"but we must, as always, proceed with the rest of the Sorting ceremony first! We had the pleasure of welcoming Christina Johnson into our school"--he nodded politely at Christina, who blushed scarlet--"and now it is time to welcome the first years. Let the Sorting begin." With that, he sat back down and gazed intently at the hat, which hadn't moved since Christina had taken it off. Christina followed his gaze and looked at the hat too, unsure of what she was waiting for. Then, the hat opened along the brim and began to sing.

_Created many years ago_

_I was, and to this day_

_it is my job to sort you_

_call you up, send you away_

_Which house will you be in, you ask?_

_Just wait and you will see_

_Do not think inside your heads_

_it all depends on me_

_for you're the one whos living_

_you're the one whos got a soul_

_I just look inside it_

_and tell you where you ought to go._

_Will I realize you're a Gryffindor?_

_With courage in your heart?_

_Well, would you give your life to save_

_someone, lest they depart?_

_Will I cresten you a Ravenclaw?_

_Are you sharp and quick of wit?_

_Have you never lost an argument_

_Do you refuse, _refuse_ to quit?_

_Will I label you a Hufflepuff?_

_With a friendly face and hand?_

_Are you normal, are you average_

_Have you got your future planned?_

_Will I pronounce you a Slytherin?_

_Do you thrive on intuition?_

_Have you cunning ways and _

_not to mention great ambition?_

_Well I will name you one of these_

_though all it does it hurt_

_Leading you to hate and fight_

_and treat your foes like dirt_

_But put me on and I will look_

_Inside your little head_

_come on now, dont you be afraid_

_my judgment is not to dread_

_Don't be ashamed, there is no way_

_to either lose or win_

_So be excited, its your turn_

_the Sorting must begin!_

Everyone in the hall clapped, including Christina, who was quite taken aback by this little song. "Did the hat make that up?" she asked Rachel. Rachel nodded as the first first year sat down on the stool and put the hat on. The line had about forty first years in it--it took about half an hour to do the sorting, but finally, the last kid had scrambled to their house, and Dumbledore was on his feet once again.

"Now that the Sorting is over," he said serenly, smiling at the woman Rachel told Christina was Professor McGonagall as she carried the hat and stool out of the hall, "we can eat. Tuck in!" And in an instant, the plates in front of Christina were suddenly overflowing with food--mashed potatos, steaks, chicken, salads, pastas, breads, soups--it was all too much to take in. Christina happily helped herself to everything, and was soon stuffed so full that she wished she hadn't eaten anything. Then, to her horror, the plates cleared and dessert appeared instead. As full as she was, Christina felt the need to eat some dessert as well, just because she could, and had consumed three pieces of cherry pie and two bowls of custard before she finally set down her spoon, sighing heavily. Rachel, next to her, was leaning backwards, groaning.

"I'm so tired," she yawned, rubbing her eyes. "Eating made me even more tired."

Just then, Dumbledore stood up.

"If I could have your attention just once more before bedtime, please," he asked. The hall fell silent. "Thank you." He beamed at the students. "Our delightful caretaker, Argus Filch, as asked me to remind you that no magic is permitted in the halls between corridors. No students are allowed in the forest--that is why it is called the Forbidden Forest--and students must be in their common rooms or dormitories by nine 'o clock each night. Now, I believe I am not the only exhausted one here"--he yawned--"and so I wish you all a very good night. Rest up for your classes tomorrow!" He sat down, and with a great scraping noise, people bushed the benches away from the tables and got up.

"Come on, Christina," Rachel said, yawning again. "I'll sh-sh-show you the way to the c-c-common room." Christina followed her out of the hall, through a mass of students in black robes. She would have very much liked to attentively examine her surroundings, but at the moment she found herself too tired and too full to keep close attention on anything. She shuffled along behind Rachel, dimly taking in the beauty of her new home. Seven spectacular floors later, they came to a stop with a group of other Gryffindors in front of a large portrait of a fat lady.

"This," said Rachel, "is the fat lady." Christina glanced at the portrait, wondering whether it would take offense to being called the fat lady, but the woman in the picture, it seemed, was quite accustomed to being referred to as "the fat lady" and smiled at them all.

"Password?" she inquired.

From behind them, someone said "Bashful Pixie." Christina turned and saw that it was a tall reddish haired boy. He glanced at Christina as the portrait swung open to reveal the portrait hole behind it; the group began to clambor through it. "I'm Richard," he added. "I'm a prefect. Fifth year." He reached out his hand. Christina shook it.

"Christina!" Rachel called from inside the common room. "Come on in!"

"I'm Christina," Christina said to the boy. "Nice to meet you." She smiled and clambored awkwardly into the common room, where she saw Rachel waiting for her. A great, warm fire was in the fireplace, which was surrounded by big comfy-looking red chairs. Tables were by the windows, presumeably for doing homework.

"Here's the spiral staircase," Rachel said, leading Christina over to a set of stairs. She began climbing them and Christina followed suit. "Our dormitories are at the top--same as last year." She paused. "But then again, you wouldn't know, you weren't here then."

They passed a landing with three doors on it and came to the second landing. There were four doors, bearing small metal plaques on the doors: _Fourth Years, Fifth years, Sixth Years, Seventh Years._ Rachel smiled.

"We get the same one each year. The year on the plaque just changes." She opened the door labeled "Fourth Years" and entered a cool room. Christina was immediately relieved from the heat of the day and of her over stuffed stomach. Five four-poster beds lined the circular room. Christina walked over to the bed that had her trunk at the foot of it and jumped onto it. The sheets felt refreshingly cool and clean against her skin. She crawled up onto the pillow and looked out the window above her headboard. The stars were twinkling in the deep navy sky. Christina could just see hints of orange along the horizon over the forest--the remnants of the sunset. She sighed.

"Lucky," Rachel muttered. "You got the window bed."

Christina giggled at her friend and slid down to the end of her bed, opening her trunk and extracting her pajamas from them. Her "pajamas" were actually just tiny pink flannel shorts and a very baggy white T-shirt. She slipped into them while Rachel's back was turned and then clambored underneath her covers, pulling the hangings around her bed shut.

"Goodnight, Rachel," she said into the dark.

"'Night."

Christina fell asleep in between cool sheets, dreaming of pretty boys and great adventure...


	4. Bacon Twice in 24 Hours

**A/N: I will add in some characters from the original Harry Potter books later on, but only in passing. I am too loyal to the books to want to make up a seperate story about the characters I know and love. Please accept that I made up my own characters to write about, not wanting any of my writing to conflict with information given in the book, or to become invalid once the 6th and 7th books come out. Thank you.**

She awoke the next day with a feeling of great excitement rushing through her, much as she had felt the day before, waking up to get on the Hogwarts Express. She savored the warmth of her bed for a moment--the morning air was much chillier than the day before--and then slowly climbed onto her knees to look out the window once again. The sun had risen recently--Christina guessed it to be about seven o' clock--and the sun's warmth was shining down on her. She opened the window and inhaled deeply, smelling pine and flowers and the fresh, dewy grass that was quickly drying off in the sun. The Hogwarts Grounds looked even more majestic in the sunlight: the forest stretched on for miles it seemed, its dark green tree tops swaying ominously in the breeze; the lake, which Christina could just see the edge of to her left. It was shimmering in the morning light; Christina wondered if it would get so hot later that day that she would be able to go for a swim. She breathed deeply again, smiling at her immense luck to be here, and turned around.

Christina slipped out between the hangings around her bed and to her trunk. She opened it and pulled out her Hogwarts robes, rubbing it's silkiness for a moment between her thumb and forefinger. Then she slipped back into her bed and put them on, leaving her pajamas discarded between the rumpled sheets. When this was complete, Christina opened the hangings and looked around the room. She was the first one awake--or, so it seemed, as all the other four-posters' curtains were pulled tightly shut around them.

Tip-toeing, not wanting to wake her friends up, she grabbed her little white bag and exited the dormitory and climbed down the spiral staircase. The common room was empty except for a few older students in the corner, talking happily. There was a fire in the fireplace, but Christina assumed it was just there to look nice, rather than to provide heat, for the windows were open as well. She entered the Gryffindor's girls bathroom off of the common room and looked at herself in the mirror.

_I should really take a shower,_ she thought, peering closer at her reflection. She looked around the bathroom and saw several doors marked "SHOWER". She opened one of them and entered a small room with a bathtub sunken into the tiled floor. A showerhead was above it. Christina carefully took off her robes and folded them safely away from the edge of the tub and turned on the shower.

Ten minutes later, Christina emerged from the showerroom in her robes, hair dripping but face shining. She went over to the mirror and scooped her wet hair up into a pony tail. Bending closer to the mirror, she applied eyeliner, but left her lips bare. Lip gloss wasn't nessecary.

Christina left the girl's bathroom and exited the common room through the portrait hole. She wasn't quite sure how to get to the great hall, so she stood around in a big, impressive looking corridor, waiting for someone to come along that she could follow, until she heard footsteps behind her. She turned and saw that it was Richard, the prefect she had met the night before.

"Good morning," she said brightly, keen to make a pleasant impression. The boy smiled.

"Same to you. Your name is Christina, right?"

"Yes. And you're Richard?"

"Yup. Richard Peterson." A moment of silence, again. Then, Richard spoke. "Do you need help finding your way to the Great Hall for breakfast?" he asked her.

"Oh--well--yes, if you wouldn't mind..."

"Oh, not at all." They began walking. "So," he continued, "you're new?"

"Yeah, I am. I moved here from America last July."

"Really? Whats it like in America?"

They continued this pleasant conversation all the way down to the Great Hall, Christina greatly enjoying telling an eager-looking Richard about fast food restaurants and popular bands. Richard was surprised to hear that Christina listened to both Muggle music and Wizarding music. Christina explained that this was because she grew up in a muggle neighborhood, and would play with muggle children, and so consequently listened to their types of music. They arrived in the sunny Great Hall to find it already filled with many people, laughing and yawning and talking over their breakfasts.

Christina and Richard walked over to the Gryffindor table and took a seat on the bench. Christina breathed deeply, yet again, to smell all the delicious food in front of her. She stopped, mid-breath. She smelled bacon.

Beaming, she helped herself to a very large pile. Bacon twice in two days! It was a miracle.

"You know," said Richard, smiling slightly, "the bacon isn't going to get up and leave or anything. It's here every day."

Christina turned to him. "Really? You eat good food like this every day?"

"Yup."

"That is so cool! At my house my mom would have us make ourselves cereal or toast if she didn't feel like cooking!" Just then Christina felt two hands on her shoulders. She twisted around awkwardly and saw Jett standing behind her, Simon next to him.

"Getting a little excited over bacon, don't you think, Christina?" Jett grinned at her. _Wow, he is _so _cute..._ Christina thought. _And he remembered my name! _Simon, behind Jett, was grinning also.

"Hey," Simon said, "here come the scheduals!" Indeed, Professor McGonagall was walking down the tables, handing students sheets of paper as she went. She came to where they were all congregated and passed out a schedual to each of them. Christina looked at it. She recognized a few of the same classes she had taken in America; Potions, Charms, Transfiguration...she hadn't taken, however, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, or History of Magic. Astronomy was a new one, too. Christina looked at her schedual for the day under Monday.

_Monday, Wednesday_

_am 9:00Potions 4_

_am 10:00Potions 4_

_am 11:00Break_

_am 11:30Divination 4_

_pm 12:30Lunch_

_pm 1:30Defense Against the Dark Arts 4_

_pm 2:30Defense Against the Dark Arts 4_

_pm 3:30Break_

_pm 4:00History of Magic 4_

_Tuesday, Thursday_

_am 9:00Transfiguration 4_

_am 10:00Transfiguration 4_

_am 11:00Break_

_am 11:30Charms 4_

_pm 12:30Lunch_

_pm 1:30Care of Magical Creatures 4_

_pm 2:30Care of Magical Creatures 4_

_pm 3:30Break_

_pm 4:00Astronomy (written) 4_

_Friday_

_am 9:00Charms_

_am 10:00Divination_

_am 11:00Break_

_am 11:30Herbology_

_pm 12:30Lunch_

_pm 11:00Astronomy (practical)_

Christina leaned sideways to see Jett's schedual.

"The only class I'll have with you is potions," Jett said, "cause I'm in fifth year."

Richard interrupted him. "Why would you have fourth year potions, fifth year?"

Jett looked a little embarrassed. "_Not_ so good at it. Snape said that in order to pass my O.W.L.'s this year, he was going to keep me back so that I can learn the basics. But, I'll probably move up mid-year."

Richard looked incredulous. "Snape would never do that for anyone in _our _house!"

"Well, I'm not in_ your _house, now _am_ I, Peterson?" Jett used a cold tone; Christina wondered why. Just then, Rachel came over to them, looking excited and holding her schedual.

"Ooh, Christina--" she waved the schedual in front of her and the two friends bent to compare.

"They'll be exactly the same," drawled Simon from behind them. "Unless, of course, one of you is slightly retarded, like Jett here, and you have to take a younger class." Jett punched him in the arm, but Christina could see that they were both grinning.

"Well," said Jett, "see you girls in potions, then." He walked off, motioning for Simon to follow him, giving a dirty look back at Richard as he went.

"How do you know him?" Richard asked immediately. "They are Slytherins, its not a good idea to associate--"

"They seem nice," cut in Rachel.

"Fine." Richard looked as though he didn't want an argument. "Well, I warned you."

Rachel sat down in between Richard and Christina and helped herself to pancakes and scrambled eggs. Christina, mean while, was savoring the bacon and sausages she had piled onto her plate.

"Try dipping them in syrup," Rachel offered, glancing at Christina's plate.

"Ew!"

"No! Its good," said Rachel, laughing.

Whether it was good or not, Christina never got the chance to find out, because just then, a great mass of owls came sweeping into the hall via the great open windows near the ceiling. Looking up, Christina was startled to see that the Great Hall appeared to have no roof, revealing the steadily brightening blue sky. She assumed it was an enchantment, and turned her attention back to the giant peck of owls that was bearing down on the students.

A large white owl landed in front of Rachel, carrying a heavy envelope. "Ooh, yes--" began Rachel, ripping off the packaging. The owl flew away, exiting through the same window it had entered from, Christina watching it. She turned back to Rachel, who was withdrawing a small heap of gold from the envelope.

"My birthday money," she explained, "from LAST year. Mum forgot to give it to me. I told her that she better get it to me before my next birthday." She laughed.

"When's your birthday?" Richard asked over his toast and marmalade.

"November 9th." Rachel pushed away her empty plate. "When is your birthday, Christina?"

"February 13th." The bell rang overhead, signaling the end of breakfast.

"Oh, lets go get our school stuff and head to"--Rachel checked her schedual--"potions! Come on." The two girls bid Richard farewell and exited the hall with the rest of the student body.

Rachel led Christina to the Gryffindor Common room, Christina paying very close attention to the path she took, in case she was faced with getting there alone sometime in the near future. "Bashful Pixie," Rachel said, and they entered the common room and made their way up to the dormitory.

"You'll need your wand," called Rachel from over by her bed, "and _Potions & Concoctions: Grade 4_." She emerged from her trunk holding the items. "Our cauldrons have already been moved down into the dungeon." Christina collected the needed materials and followed Rachel down the spiral staircase and out through the portrait hole once more.

Rachel led the way down seven floors to the main floor, and then down several more to reach the dungeon.

"It's kind of creepy down here," Christina commented. Rachel pushed open a large, wooden door to one side of the hallway. Christina followed her into a large stone room with torches in brackets lining the walls. There were chairs, desks, and cauldrons lined up in neat rows, behind the teacher's desk. Sitting at this desk was a greasy-haired man with a hooked nose that Christina thought looked quite unpleasant, but striking at the same time. Rachel led her over to a table in the back and they took their seat.Just then, Jett entered the room, looking embarrassed and slightly out of place. He saw Christina and Rachel in the back, and went to join them. Snape raised his eyebrows, seemingly disgusted.

The tardy bell rang, and the man stood. "Welcome to potions."


End file.
